Where the lives of some masters are studied simply for their teachings, few of the great guides of the Path have left lives so documented that one can trace the individual's spiritual progress to perfection step by step as Rumi, the chroniclers of whose life have provided us with so palpable an example of how one may proceed. Not only do we have the accounts of contemporaries, or near-contemporaries, like Sepahsalar, Aflaki and Rumi's own son Soltan Walad, but we even have the vivid experiential descriptions given by both Rumi and his key guide, Shams-e Tabrizi, to give us an insight into his biography.   --> more

Among the great Sufis of Baghdad, many of whom hailed from Persia, Abo'l-Hosayn an-Nuri occupies a special place. Known to most readers mainly by his slightly controversial attitude toward Abo'l-Qasem al-Jonayd, Nuri was one of the most attractive figures in Baghdad in the second half of the ninth century.   --> more

The universe has three fundamental worlds: The highest is the world of the simple (or 'noncompound') spirits, who are pure life, intelligence and luminosity. The lowest is that of bodies, which are inanimate and compound, or made of parts. The middle domain is the world of imagination, whose inhabitants are both simple and compound at the same time. Hence, they are not totally different from either spirits or bodies, and through them the two sides are able to interrelate.   --> more

Sufism has always been presented as a practical, yet at the same time, transcendental school: 'practical' in the sense that it deals with disciplines that lead to enlightenment and 'transcendental' in the sense that it transcends the outward aspects of any given religion. In no Sufi more than Bayazid are these two qualities manifested. Among the early Sufis of Islam, Bayazid played a pivotal role in the formation of Sufi doctrines and practices which were later adopted and expanded by Sufis such as 'Attar and Rumi.   --> more

Given the popularity of the I Ching and the omnipresence of the yin/yang symbol, no one needs to be told that Chinese thought is concerned with harmony, equilibrium and balance between two principles of existence. In contrast, Islamic cosmology is practically unknown in the West. What I would like to do in this essay is to try to draw a picture of the Islamic cosmos as it has generally been perceived by Muslims.   --> more

The spiritual path begins when the heart is awakened to His eternal presence. The Beloved looks into the heart of His lover and in that instant the lover knows the secret of divine union, that the lover and Beloved are one. The glance of the Beloved carries the consciousness of His eternal presence.   --> more

The Arabic word al-khadir means 'green'; the honorific name al-Khidr consequently means 'The Green One'. According to the Alexander Romance, after Khidr dove into the Water of Life — which he had found by using a shining jewel brought from Paradise by the prophet Adam — "all the flesh of his body became bluish-green and his garments likewise". In the Ethiopian version of the Romance,, he is told: "You are Khidr: wherever your feet touch, the earth will become green". His greenness suggests links to St. Gregory and St. George and echoes, if distantly, Zachariah, VI, 12: "Behold the man whose name is The Branch".   --> more

Discussion of mysticism is conditioned by our being in the between position, where two created bodies coexist and perhaps float, one decisively and the other indecisively: the angelic and the human respectively. The angels, including and perhaps especially, Iblis, the Islamic Satan, are contemplatives fixed in certitude with regard to God and nature; we are at least to ourselves more complex, being torn between the values of contemplation and of action and laden with uncertainty about God and our relation to nature with an often mercurial and hubristic impulse to improve upon both.   --> more

Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797-1869), alias Mirza Nawshah, is the best known and the most widely read Indo-Persian poet of his time. His many well-known ghazals have been sung and recorded by numerous performers in India as well as in Pakistan. Since Urdu poetry relies heavily on oral tradition and rhythmic recitation, catch-phrases from various Urdu poets have made their way into everyday Urdu speech in a way which is unparalleled in any other language.   --> more

The thirteenth-century Sufi Fakhruddin 'Iraqi said, "Love courses through everything" and 1800 years earlier the Buddha's last words were reported as "Impermanent are all formations. Observe this carefully, constantly". Somehow, the indestructible insight of these two truths leads us to understand the life of the spirit in much the way that Einstein led us to understand the life of energy.   --> more

One generally associates malamiyyah spirituality without referring to any particular tariqah with a systematic disdain for social norms, including a transgressive tendency with respect to customs and conventions, and with the cultivation of disruptive attitudes aimed at attracting upon oneself the blame of others. Now, although such a vision is undoubtedly founded upon psychological and social realities, it does not do full justice to the profound meaning and the vocational principles of this methodical course of action.   --> more

The problem of evil is an old religious and philosophical one which has baffled man since antiquity. The core of the problem is that the existence of evil in this world seems to be contradictory to the religious belief that an Omnipotent, Omniscient and Perfectly Good God exists.   --> more

One of the major contributions of Sufism to inter-religious dialogue, which has not been much commented upon, has been to serve as a bridge between Islam and other religions. On the one hand, it has softened the attitude of the followers of other religions towards mystical Islam and, on the other hand, it has made the Muslims much more open and receptive towards other religions.   --> more

A spiritually calm person does not become more humane by imitating a great man's rage. Louis Massignon was not a native to calm. But he transmitted much spiritual nourishment to those he helped to find serenity. He taught much about dialogue and about living humanely in an unserene world.   --> more